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Trump Administration Pushes to Deregulate With Less Enforcement
David Fahrenthold RetweetedGood @learyreports story on Trump’s deregulatory strategy.
Link to tweet
Trump Administration Pushes to Deregulate With Less Enforcement
Enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is down by 80% from its 2015 peak
By Alex Leary
Updated June 23, 2019 7:12 pm ET
CHICAGO—President Trump’s promises to reverse the regulatory actions of the Obama administration have been stymied by court challenges, but his administration is achieving the goal another way: by not hiring people to do the work of enforcing rules that are on the books.
At the Environmental Protection Agency, where staffing has fallen to Reagan-era levels, there were 10,600 inspections last fiscal year, down from nearly 21,300 at the height of President Obama’s second term, and less than 60% of the annual average since 2001. Civil penalties and criminal prosecutions have hit the lowest levels in decades.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigates and regulates workplaces for health and safety issues, has the fewest inspectors in decades, and intensive enforcement has trailed off. At the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created to crack down on unscrupulous small lenders and debt collectors, enforcement is down by 80% from its 2015 peak.
“If you don’t have the people, you stop inspecting,” said Granta Nakayama, who oversaw EPA enforcement during President George W. Bush’s second term. “You just don’t have enforcement. It’s not rocket science.”
Even so, there is growing dissatisfaction among business leaders over the administration’s pace of rolling back actual regulations. Until regulations are eliminated, industry operators still must be prepared for inspections, even if they are less likely. And if Democrats retake the White House in 2020, a new president could easily ramp the rules back up and enforce those that remain on the books.
....
—Timothy Puko contributed to this article.
Write to Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com
Enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is down by 80% from its 2015 peak
By Alex Leary
Updated June 23, 2019 7:12 pm ET
CHICAGO—President Trump’s promises to reverse the regulatory actions of the Obama administration have been stymied by court challenges, but his administration is achieving the goal another way: by not hiring people to do the work of enforcing rules that are on the books.
At the Environmental Protection Agency, where staffing has fallen to Reagan-era levels, there were 10,600 inspections last fiscal year, down from nearly 21,300 at the height of President Obama’s second term, and less than 60% of the annual average since 2001. Civil penalties and criminal prosecutions have hit the lowest levels in decades.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigates and regulates workplaces for health and safety issues, has the fewest inspectors in decades, and intensive enforcement has trailed off. At the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created to crack down on unscrupulous small lenders and debt collectors, enforcement is down by 80% from its 2015 peak.
“If you don’t have the people, you stop inspecting,” said Granta Nakayama, who oversaw EPA enforcement during President George W. Bush’s second term. “You just don’t have enforcement. It’s not rocket science.”
Even so, there is growing dissatisfaction among business leaders over the administration’s pace of rolling back actual regulations. Until regulations are eliminated, industry operators still must be prepared for inspections, even if they are less likely. And if Democrats retake the White House in 2020, a new president could easily ramp the rules back up and enforce those that remain on the books.
....
—Timothy Puko contributed to this article.
Write to Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com
https://twitter.com/learyreports
3 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Every move he makes is to preserve the oligarchy. 
and once again I'll be most pissed off when those white folks in the rust belt find a way to blame Dems for their unbreathable air and undrinkable water... 